Please feel free to browse this website as a guest. Creating an account removes some ads, allows you to post replies, start new topics and threads, and gives you access to more features including bookmarking, live chat, messaging and notification systems.

Report - St Saviours Church - Lancashire - Oct 2013

Regular User

The origins of St. Saviour's, Bacup, lived a Christian man with a real concern for the spiritual needs of the people living on his estate, Mr. John Holt. His dreams of building a church were not fulfilled in his own lifetime.

When nearby St. John's fell into a state of extreme disrepair and collapse a committee was formed to rebuild it but progress was so slow that one of the members of the committee, Mr. James Maden Holt (the son of Mr. John Holt) withdrew and determined to go ahead with the building of a church. After obtaining the consent of the incumbent of St. John's, the Rev. B. Tweedale, Mr. Holt looked round for a suitable clergyman to tackle the undertaking. Rev. William Whitworth, Vicar of St. Jude's, Ancoats, was willing to accept the onerous task of working up the new- parish and invited him to be the first vicar. Mr. Whitworth was duly licensed and began his labours in an old mill at Rockliffe. It was intended that these premises should be only temporary so very few alterations were made. The floor was covered with sawdustand benches mounted on bricks were used as pews. Worship commenced there in 1854.

Work now began on the Sunday School building and was completed in 1858. The congregation and scholars were called together for a final address by Mr. Whitworth in Rockliffe Mill. A procession then formed and marched to the new school, which was opened by Mr. Whitworth who gave a further address. The upper part of the school was used as a church for the next few years. The vicarage was built next and Mr. Whitworth took up residence there about 1860, shortly before the building of the church commenced.

The church was consecrated on Monday, the 23rd of January, 1865, by the Lord Bishop of Manchester, and was designated "St. Saviour's, Bacup". The cost of the erection of the church, school and vicarage was borne entirely by Mr. James Maden Holt and amounted to Â£8,000, Â£2,000 and Â£1,400 respectively, exclusive of the value of the sites.

The new church

The architect employed by Mr. Maden Holt was E. Wyndham Tarn of London. The church, 120 ft. long and 53 ft. wide was built in the Early Pointed Gothic style from stone quarried on Mr. Holt's estate with pillars of polished red granite. Seating accommodation was provided for 1,000 people. The tower, which stands on the north side of the chancel, is surmounted by a spire 150 ft. in height. A small transept was built on the south side of the church. It was used originally as a pew for the Holt family but later the font was transferred to this chapel from its former position in the chancel. The church contains a baptistry for the immersion of adults. It is sunk in the chancel floor and is covered by an ornamental grating.

The explore........

Basically a nice and peaceful solo mooch............enjoy

Thank you for view, trust you enjoyed the report, take care, I Will Knot